As a new semester at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill kicks into full swing, the School of Government’s Master of Public Administration faculty and staff are busy at work welcoming new and returning students. With summer now behind us, the School decided to check in with Dean Aimee Wall and MPA faculty to find out what they listened to and read during the summer—right as they kick into the new fall semester.
Ricardo S. Morse, Professor of Public Administration and Government
“I finished a real page-turner of a book this summer called Left for Dead by Eric Jay Dolin. The subtitle kind of says it all; it is about ‘shipwreck, treachery, and survival at the edge of the world.’ It is a story that takes place in the Falkland Islands during the war of 1812, and the twists and turns it takes are one of ‘those real-life is stranger than fiction’ kind of stories.”
Kimberly L. Nelson, Professor of Public Administration and Government
“I have three books I have started recently. They are: Finding Grace, The Chain, and Getting to Yes. Two fun books and one workbook. I would describe The Chain as a crime thriller. I just started Finding Grace, so I can only say that it has a great beginning. I also recently finished a book titled, Who is Government? I would definitely recommend this book for MPA students. The author Michael Lewis uses a set of essays to highlight the importance of the work of the government bureaucrat. Reading this book validated my passion for public service.
Podcasts help me relax at night before going to sleep. I like history podcasts and true crime, particularly ‘American Scandal: The Plague of San Francisco’. The podcast tells the story of a bubonic plague outbreak in San Francisco in 1900 and how a young, early bacteriologist tries to stop it and is faced with a corrupt city government that hinders his efforts.”
Charles Szypszak, Albert Coates Distinguished Professor of Public Law and Government
“I’m reading Pat Conroy’s The Prince of Tides, about a troubled family from South Carolina. I was reminded of the title while watching Ted Lasso. In the show, Ted asks others about their favorite books. His is The Fountainhead, which is one of my all-time favorites. A therapist for the team tells Ted that hers is The Prince of Tides. One interesting aspect of the book to me is the contrast of the author’s portrayal of the cultures of New York City and South Carolina.”
Aimee N. Wall, Dean
“I just finished reading Southern News, Southern Politics by Rob Christensen. The Daniels family and the Raleigh News and Observer serve as the anchors—but this book is really a fascinating study of the role of journalism in local, state, and even national politics. I learned a great deal about North Carolina politics and history. I came away with a long list of questions I need to investigate and rabbit holes I need to go down.”
Jeffrey Welty, Professor of Public Law and Government
“One book I’m reading now is Abundance, by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. Much of the book is about housing, infrastructure, and how to make our great cities more affordable and more livable. It also examines the unintended consequences of zoning and development regulations—concerns that are as pertinent in Chapel Hill as they are in New York or San Francisco.”
Teshanee Williams, Assistant Professor of Public Administration and Government
“I listened to ‘Ear Hustle’, which is a podcast that shares daily realities of life inside prison and stories from people once they’ve gotten out. It was created inside San Quentin State Prison by visual artist Nigel Poor and formerly incarcerated men Earlonne Woods and Antwan Williams.
The episodes cover everything from the nuances of prison culture to the challenges of reentry, told in first-person narratives that are raw, empathetic, and often surprisingly funny. I enjoy listening to it because it brings attention to many unseen issues and raises awareness of the benefits associated with rehabilitation in prisons. The podcast’s stories, whether about cooking in a cell or facing parole hearings, offer a humanizing and eye-opening look at life during and after incarceration, showing resilience and the importance of second chances.”
Please join us for a UNC MPA Special Topics Webinar discussing public administration and the nonprofit landscape. Attendees will hear from our nonprofit faculty advisor, Dr. Teshanee Williams, current student Emma Gilliam who helped co-found our nonprofit student organization Leaders for Good, and esteemed alum Tim Leshan who has worked in nonprofit leadership for the bulk of his career. Panelists will discuss how their careers/interests began, why they obtained the MPA, how the MPA has supported their careers, and advice on the current landscape of nonprofit administration and how to navigate a caeer in it.
Featured panelists include:
Teshanee Williams – Assistant Professor of Public Administration and Government
Emma Gilliam – Current UNC MPA Student, Co-Founder of Leaders for Good
Tim Leshan – Chief of External Relations and Advocacy Office, Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, UNC MPA Alum
The panel will be facilitated by our Director of Admissions, Cara Robinson
A new MPA tradition is the “So You’re an Expert in What?” event for students to get to know some our esteemed School of Government faculty members. This year we are inviting prospective students to attend virutally and see how our students can benefit with all that happens across the School. At this event, three School of Government faculty will share about their areas of expertise, and they only have seven minutes to do it!
Moderator:
Jeff Welty, Professor of Public Law and Government; Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs
Speakers:
Jacqui Greene, Associate Professor of Public Law and Government
Christopher Mclaughlin, Professor of Public Law and Government
Kristi Nickodem, Assistant Professor of Public Law and Government
The North Carolina Benchmarking Project was established in 1995 to help municipalities compare their service and performance trends with other participating units. Each year, throughout August and September, partner municipalities submit performance and management data across eleven services to the University of North Carolina’s School of Government. The Benchmarking Project audits and uploads that data on a dashboard and invites participants to eleven performance strategy sessions in November to analyze data and discuss shared challenges and practices likely to resolve those challenges. The information from the strategy sessions and the dashboard is synthesized into annual reports.
Last year, the Benchmarking Project leveraged AI to manage report-development and data-auditing processes. The use of AI in these two tasks significantly reduced the hours spent on them, decreased the error rate, and strengthened the outcomes. This bulletin describes how the Benchmarking Project team adopted AI for that data auditing and report development. The team hopes that its experience will serve as an example for others thinking about leveraging AI to improve their processes.
Keegan Huynh, a special projects coordinator for the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, and Christopher L. Cole II, a project coordinator for the North Carolina Benchmarking Project, co-authored this bulletin.
Download (pdf, 438.33 KB)
By Andy Bradshaw
The School of Government congratulates faculty members Whitney Afonso and Kimberly Nelson, who were honored with receipt of the 2025 Best Book Award from the American Society for Public Administration’s (ASPA) Section on Public Administration Research.
Their joint publication—Municipal Corruption: From Policies to People—is the most comprehensive exploration of corruption in U.S. municipal governments written to date. Exploring the 30-year period from 1990 to 2020 and including all U.S. municipalities with populations of 10,000 people or more, Afonso and Nelson used both quantitative research and case study analysis to answer the question of why some municipalities fall victim to corrupt acts, while others do not. It tells the stories of a number of communities that suffered through public corruption; the book investigates factors that contribute to a greater risk of corruption in municipalities and identifies steps to prevent corruption in communities―including strengthening resident interest and involvement in local affairs, offsetting the decline in local journalism, and reinforcing scrutiny by state governments.
The publication begins with two sets of quantitative analyses that expand on work published in two peer-reviewed articles. From these studies, the book concludes that the council-manager form of government is associated with lower risk of a municipal corruption conviction. The remainder of the book dives deeper into the variables associated with corruption risk through its examination of corruption cases in U.S. municipalities and provides recommendations for methods for reducing corruption risk.
The collection of the data was challenging, according to Nelson.
“The process of collecting the data on municipal corruption was time-consuming; we spent more than two years collecting it,” she said. “We first used data from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section and supplemented it with a keyword search in newspaper databases to find corruption convictions through the courts system.”
“We are really proud of this book. It couples rigorous analysis with an incredibly important topic—public corruption,” said Afonso. “We analyze what governments may be particularly susceptible to corruption from bad actors and what are actual policies and levers that governments can pull to lower the likelihood of corruption. We hope that this book will be a resource to academics, state and local governments, and those interested in hindering corruption.”
ASPA’s SPAR welcomed nominations for books on public administration published in 2024 and 2023. The Best Book Award evaluates criteria such as outstanding accomplishment of the research objectives, high-quality writing, and potential to constitute a lasting contribution to public administration literature.
by Katie Geith
The Local Government Workplaces Initiative (LGWI) at the UNC School of Government is the only university-based center in the country dedicated to local government workplace climate research. The center is led by Dr. Leisha DeHart-Davis, professor of public administration and government and director of the Local Government Workplaces Initiative.
LGWI began in 2004 at the University of Kansas’s School of Public Affairs and Administration and was formalized after DeHart-Davis joined UNC-Chapel Hill. The center aims to help cities and counties create great workplaces and improve public service delivery by listening and responding to employees. Over twenty years, LGWI has surveyed, interviewed, and facilitated group discussions for over 25,000 local government employees and has completed 42 workplace climate surveys with local governments both inside and outside North Carolina.
“We aim to be the go-to resource for local government workplace climate improvements,” said Clay Fleming, assistant director of LGWI. “When local governments across the country think about listening to employees, we want to be the first choice.”
One service LGWI offers local government is a comprehensive workplace climate survey with evidence-based questions that can be customized according to a local government’s needs. Additional services include facilitating pre- or post-survey focus groups, infographics, creating action plans, and customized training for employees or leadership, in addition to research contract services.
Support in Guilford County
In 2021, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners updated the core values and goals for the County office. They established “Our People Matter” as a value, reflecting a desire to support employees well-being and provide a positive and compassionate office environment. They engaged LGWI to conduct a workplace climate study to give leadership a deeper understanding of employees’ perspectives and attitudes.
LGWI conducted two surveys, one in 2021 and one in 2023. The 2021 survey had a 63 percent response rate and revealed strengths in supervisory practices, teamwork, organization identification, and values, as well as opportunities for improving employee voice, pay and benefit satisfaction, and burnout.
Guilford County took recommendations from its employees and LGWI and set goals to improve results. Some of the action steps they took include creating a communications department, forming a committee that gives employees a voice in policy and workplace improvements, adopting new pay and benefit plans, increasing technology investments and adjusting staffing ratios to prevent burnout, and holding small group sessions for open discussions with leadership.
When LGWI compared the 2021 and 2023 survey results, it revealed that the County had 16 improvements, including greater employee voice, less burnout, and higher pay satisfaction. The response rate was also 11 percent higher than the 2021 survey, indicating more engagement.
“Guilford County has partnered with LGWI on two climate surveys, several employee focus group processes, and related follow-up initiatives,” said Daphne Taylor, assistant director of Guilford County human resources. “The LGWI team brings expertise, transparency, and objectivity to the process, which has fostered a sense of trust among our employees. The partnership has produced tangible benefits and has been well worth the investment.”
Through engaging LGWI, Guilford County was able to understand employee needs and implement action steps that improved the workplace.
Impact on local governments
Beyond Guilford County, other local governments have used survey results to transform their workplace climate through initiatives like:
“It’s critical for local governments to engage with their employees; the dividends are monumental,” said Lloyd Payne, city manager of the City of Concord. “When the City of Concord decided to survey its employees, we hired LGWI. As a result of what we learned, we have implemented dozens of new initiatives that have helped us keep our employee turnover rate low, even in the current job market.”
Data supporting innovative research
DeHart-Davis uses data from the initiative in her academic research. So far, the data has been used for 23 journal articles and an award-winning book.
“I am currently working with a group of scholars to study citizen incivility in local government,” said DeHart-Davis. “Incivility burns out employees, increases quit rates, and affects public service delivery. We are studying how local governments can manage incivility to protect employees and improve public service delivery. Data from LGWI is essential in projects like this”.
Several papers using LGWI data have won best-article awards, and DeHart-Davis received the 2024 Herbert Simon Award for the Scientific Study of Bureaucracy based on her research with LGWI data.
LGWI is an important part of the School of Government’s mission to serve the state and is an invaluable resource for local governments seeking to better understand their employees and improve their workplace climates.If you are looking to partner with LGWI on a project, reach out to sog_lgwi@unc.edu.
Published July 9, 2025
The theme of this year’s Deil S. Wright Public Service Forum is emergency management. Organized by School of Government faculty member Crista Cuccaro and offered In conjunction with the UNC MPA Immersion course on Emergency Management, this year’s Deil S. Wright Public Service Forum will feature an engaging discussion on the topic with experts and practitioners in the field.
The Deil S. Wright Public Service Forum will again be linked to the UNC MPA program’s Immersion course, this year on Emergency Management. The Forum will be a panel discussion moderated by Norma Houston that focuses on relationships and coordination between local, state, and federal governments for successful emergency management.
Speaking about emergency management from the local government perspective will be UNC MPA alumna Christina Farrell ’92, First Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Emergency Management; Will Ray, North Carolina Emergency Management Director; and Erik Hooks, former Deputy Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
In person registration for School of Government community members and #uncmpa program alumni. Reception to follow.
Virtual registration available for prospective students and those interested in emergency management.
Former School of Government faculty member David Ammons, Albert Coates Professor Emeritus of Public Administration and Government, has authored a new publication. Published in May 2025, Improving Local Government Performance through Benchmarking describes the two types of benchmarking used by local governments—metrics benchmarking and best practice benchmarking—and cites examples and lessons learned across the nation and around the globe, including prominently lessons from the North Carolina Benchmarking Project.
Below, Ammons answers questions about the inspiration behind writing this book, expands on the complex nature of benchmarking for governments, and more.
What drove you to write this publication?
“I have been engaged in benchmarking projects throughout most of my career, including 25 years as a faculty advisor to the North Carolina Benchmarking Project. From experience and study, I have come to recognize and appreciate an array of considerations that shape the design of a benchmarking project and important issues that can affect its success. Writing this book was my opportunity to share what I have learned from my own research and experience, and from the research of other scholars in this field.”
What aspects of benchmarking are misunderstood by governments?
“Several aspects of benchmarking are not fully understood by many governments, but here I will mention two big ones. First, when done properly, benchmarking focuses on performance, not community or organizational characteristics or policies. A comparative inventory of characteristics or policies is not really benchmarking. Second, metrics benchmarking—the most common type of benchmarking in local government and the one most people think of—is not their only choice. Best practice benchmarking is an excellent choice as well.”
What can readers expect to learn from this publication?
“Many decisions are made, initially, in selecting a benchmarking type and, subsequently, in designing a benchmarking project without full consideration of the ramifications of those choices on the ultimate success of the project. Reading this book will help remove these blind spots.”
What are the two major types of benchmarking used by governments, and does one have advantages over the other?
“Most people are familiar with metrics benchmarking, the most common type in local government. Metrics benchmarking is a superb tool for diagnosing a department or program’s performance strengths and weaknesses. But if a manager or supervisor wants prescriptions for improving their unit’s performance, metrics benchmarking won’t do that. Best practice benchmarking will.”
By Sonja Matanovic
On a Monday morning in March, School of Government faculty member Kara Millonzi prepares to lead more than 50 public officials in a weekly ritual she calls “Finance Office Hours.” It is a time she and her colleagues set aside each week for the last five years—or sometimes every other week—to pull together the public finance officers working in local and state governments across North Carolina via Zoom.
These are not your average office hours for a university professor. For starters, everyone participating is a professional, most of them have their camera off, and while Millonzi’s tone is upbeat and helpful and her information is designed to be accessible to students, the content is dense and loaded with acronyms, technical language, and slides. And it comes on the heels of North Carolina’s worst and most expensive natural disaster: Hurricane Helene.
County and municipal government employees were on the front lines of this disaster and continue to work the front lines of the recovery effort. A December 2024 report by the Office of State Budget and Management noted that two keys to success in storm recovery are “1) quickly mobilizing significant, flexible capital and (2) proactively investing in local capacity and expertise to support post-disaster efforts.”
It’s the “significant, flexible capital” part that Millonzi has been working on lately after nearly two decades advising North Carolina’s local governments in the areas of public budgeting and finance. In addition to helping them shore up their financial reserves, access state and local disaster recovery funds, and balance their budgets, Millonzi provides a safe place for peer learning and for encouragement during a difficult time in their profession, when local government balance sheets might not look great because of cash flow issues due to Hurricane Helene.
“Kara’s deep expertise, combined with her approachability, made office hours a lifeline that local governments relied upon week after week,” said Lacy Pate, director of disaster recovery and grant assistance with the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners.
History of Office Hours
Finance office hours took off as a resource for North Carolina’s public officials during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, bringing finance professionals together with School of Government faculty to navigate urgent legal and practical challenges related to the pandemic.
Millonzi was an early adopter of Zoom at the School and used the tool to set up meetings when it was impossible to gather in person. Participants discussed executive orders, such as those that temporarily stopped collections from residential public utility customers, and financial tools like small business revolving loan funds, to help local governments support their communities during a tough time.
By 2022, finance office hours had evolved into a platform for understanding the American Rescue Plan Act’s Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF), a program authorized by former President Joe Biden and designed to deliver $350 billion to state, territorial, local, and Tribal governments across the country to support recovery from the pandemic.
As with most federal funding, compliance standards were plentiful, and many North Carolina local governments—especially those with few staff members or simply inexperienced in working with federal funding—were in need but intimidated by the challenges they faced in accessing the funds. “Because SLFRF is administered by the U.S. Treasury, which is not a typical grant-making agency, local governments needed expert guidance, as well as peer collaboration and support,” said Pate.
Five years later, Millonzi and her colleagues are still leading weekly virtual office hours to provide up-to-date guidance on complex and shifting federal funding requirements, particularly on those related to disaster relief. The office hours help School faculty and others better understand issues facing different communities, and the information shared on these calls helps Millonzi be responsive to public officials and target the resources she’s creating for local governments.
“Office Hours provides the unique opportunity to overlay the federal guidelines with state statutes and requirements,” said Maria Standfest, a grants/project analyst with New Hanover County’s finance department. “What we learned early on is that just because Treasury says we can use SLFRF funds in certain ways, it doesn’t mean that it’s allowable in the state of North Carolina.”
“It’s hard to believe that we have had access to such a wealth of information at no cost,” added Standfest.
Then Came Hurricane Helene
In September 2024, Millonzi and her colleagues quickly adapted office hours to address Helene-related concerns, demonstrating the value of real-time problem-solving and peer support.
“Our region is rural and many of the local governments we serve are small,” said Cory Osborne, director of economic recovery and resilience with High Country Council of Governments, serving Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey counties, all of which are located within Hurricane Helene’s FEMA-designated disaster areas.
“The calls after Helene have been a great resource for us,” said Osborne. “Most of my department’s work shifted after the storm to helping local governments with the FEMA Public Assistance (PA) Program. Navigating the PA program is challenging and complex. Alongside complying with FEMA regulations, local governments also must follow procurement requirements and statutory requirements on how they handle funding,” he added.
Osborne noted that the recurring support and knowledge the School offers has helped High Country Council of Governments navigate financial complexities. Knowing experts are easily reachable has been a comfort to employees and the communities they serve.
Finance officers from coastal North Carolina communities—many of whom have previous experience with hurricane recovery—also provided comfort, insights, and tips on these calls for their peers in western communities that were devastated by Hurricane Helene and in urgent need of federal funding.
Over time, the focus of finance office hours has broadened to cover general local government law and finance. While each government has its own challenges unique to their circumstances, they face many issues in common—an urgent need for a pipeline of employees trained in public finance, lack of training in navigating federal funding requirements, and not enough staff.
“Within the calls themselves, there’s wonderful information shared between local governments,” said Standfest. “Many times, questions are shared with the group and other units are able to answer them or offer their own experiences. They share obstacles they’ve encountered, solutions they’ve found, and recommendations for others.”
Office hours also foster collaboration between School faculty, local governments, and organizations such as the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, regional Councils of Government, and state agencies. It has been particularly helpful to address hot topics and emerging issues.
“There is always a dedicated group of officials seeking guidance and sharing insights to support one another. It has become a community, where we all learn from each other, share with each other, and sometimes commiserate with each other,” said Millonzi. “I look forward to it every week.”
Published April 8, 2025
by Katie Geith
New UNC School of Government faculty member Dylan Russell was recently recognized with three distinguished honors, which underscore his contributions to public service, higher education, and leadership at UNC-Chapel Hill and across North Carolina.
In March, Russell was inducted into the Order of the Golden Fleece, Carolina’s oldest honor society.
Founded in 1904, the Order fosters connections among students, faculty, and alumni and selects members based on extraordinary service to the university in scholarship, motivation, creativity, loyalty, and leadership in academic and extracurricular pursuits. Russell was nominated by Richard Stevens, former state senator, UNC MPA alumnus, and Chair Emeritus of the UNC Board of Trustees.
“I believe deeply in the promise of UNC-CH and what it means for North Carolina,” said Russell.“To be inducted into the Order of the Golden Fleece—and to join the ranks of giants from the School of Government like Mike Smith, John Sanders, Albert Coates, and Anita Brown-Graham—is a profound honor. Their commitment to service and leadership has shaped this state, and their example continues to inspire me every day. I’m humbled to carry that legacy forward and grateful to be part of a tradition that recognizes the power of public service to unite, elevate, and transform communities through Carolina’s work.”
Also this year, Russell received the Chancellor’s Award for Student Undergraduate Teaching, which honors outstanding faculty and teaching assistants who demonstrate excellence in instruction and impact on student learning. The Student Undergraduate Teaching Awards were established to recognize outstanding undergraduate instruction by both faculty and teaching assistants. Teaching nominations are reviewed based on demonstrated and consistent teaching excellence, success in positively affecting a broad spectrum of students both in and outside the classroom, and the creation of a dynamic learning environment.
Russell was recognized for his work teaching State and Local Government (PUBA 401), a service-learning course placing undergraduate students in nonprofits and local governments across the state. In the class, students work with community partners to create policy briefs that address issues faced by the community. The course also serves as a gateway to public service careers: six of Russell’s former students have gone on to enroll in the UNC MPA program, and many now serve in local government leadership roles across the state.
One nomination for the award read, “Russell embodies the highest standards of undergraduate teaching excellence. Through his commitment to experiential learning, mentorship, career preparation, and fostering an inclusive and dynamic classroom, he inspires students to pursue meaningful careers in public service.”
In May, Russell received an award from Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL) or top influencers in local government. ELGL is a national organization that celebrates innovation in local government. The award honors public sector professionals making a difference in their communities and who demonstrate joy, creativity, connection, dependability, and equity through their work and public activities. Russell was one of three honorees from UNC, alongside UNC MPA alumnus Pat Madej and PELA graduate Jonathan Russell.
About Dylan Russell
Dylan Russell joined the School as a teaching assistant professor in May 2025. He serves as the faculty co-lead of Lead for North Carolina at the UNC School of Government. Lead for North Carolina facilitates high-impact fellowships for recent graduates in local government throughout the state. Under Dylan’s leadership, Lead for NC has connected over 150 young leaders with fellowships and secured over 10 million in funding to support these initiatives. Dylan’s research explores strategies for workforce development, talent retention, and institutional capacity in government organizations.